BETHESDA, MD - Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced that it has entered into a joint venture with an affiliate of a fund managed by Fortress Investment Group to form a CMBS lending platform to provide financing for multifamily and commercial real estate properties nationwide. The venture, to be named Walker & Dunlop Commercial Property Funding, LLC, will provide first mortgage loans on all commercial property types. In addition, the venture will originate high yield whole loans, mezzanine debt, and preferred equity. The joint venture will be headquartered in New York City and overseen by Tim Koltermann, a 25-year industry veteran in commercial loan originations, CMBS trading, loan pricing and structuring, and CMBS securitization.
"Walker & Dunlop finished 2012 as the 10th largest commercial real estate lender in the United States and third largest multifamily lender as a major partner to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD," commented Willy Walker, Walker & Dunlop's Chairman and CEO. "This new initiative with Fortress Investment Group allows us to leverage our scaled origination, underwriting, servicing and asset management infrastructure to offer an alternative capital source for all commercial real estate asset classes. Over the past year, Walker & Dunlop has expanded to 20 offices across the country, and this new venture will provide our clients with a significantly diversified proprietary lending platform to meet their financing objectives."
Jeff Goodman, EVP of Walker & Dunlop's proprietary capital group, commented, "We raised Walker & Dunlop's first large-scale, institutionally-backed debt vehicle in August focused on multifamily and seniors housing bridge loans, and have been deploying that capital ever since. The addition of this CMBS and high yield platform, under Tim Koltermann's leadership and in partnership with Fortress, is a terrific step in the continued expansion of Walker & Dunlop's product lines. We expect to issue loan applications as early as January, 2014, and are projecting an initial origination target of $1 billion in the first year of operation."
Through its subsidiary Walker & Dunlop, LLC, Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE: WD) is one of the leading commercial real estate finance companies in the United States, with a primary focus on multifamily lending. As a Fannie Mae DUS®, Freddie Mac Program Plus® and MAP- and LEAN-approved FHA lender, the Multifamily and FHA Finance groups are focused on lending to property owners, investors, and developers of multifamily properties across the country.